On Senior Night, it was a sophomore who did the scoring for the Golden Panthers as the FIU men's soccer team won its final home match of the season 2-0 over Florida Gulf Coast University.
Sophomore Christian Caporaletti (Miami, Fla.) scored twice and seniors Ainsley Deer (Kingston, Jamaica) and Mario Franca (Miami, Fla.) picked up one assist each as the Golden Panthers picked up a much needed win in a non-conference tilt Friday night at University Park.
“It was great to get a win for the fans,” said head coach Munga Eketebi. “When people come out and support you day in and day out regardless of your record, you want to get a win for them.”
The Golden Panthers nearly took the lead in the 23rd minute when Franca sent a pass to FIU's leading scorer Juan Guerra (Caracas, Venezuela), who fired a dangerous shot that sailed just high.
Just a minute later, Steven Jair Cabas (Miami, Fla.) sent a low cross that was mishandled by the FGCU keeper. Guerra nearly took full advantage of the opportunity as he again fired a threatening shot, but again, the shot went over the crossbar.
The Golden Panthers threatened again, this time in the 35th minute, when Guerra sent a corner kick into the box that was eventually controlled by Cabas, who fired on goal but was turned away by Adam Glick.
The match would remain scoreless as the first half came to an end.
In the 66th minute, Caporaletti picked up his first goal of the match when Cabas sent a cross into the box that Ainsley Deer tried to kick towards the net but the shot attempt was deflected in the air by a FGCU defender. Caporaletti saw an opportunity and kicked the deflected ball out of the air and into the net for a 1-0 FIU lead.
“It feels really good,” said Caporaletti about his second goal of the season. “I missed a lot of goals during the season so it feels great that they finally start to go in. It's too bad it's so late in the season, but at least we got a win for the seniors.”
In the 80th minute, junior keeper Matias Wilson (Weston, Fla.) made a diving stop on a long range shot by the Eagles' Ben Foerstiner to keep the score at 1-0.
Caporaletti would make the score 2-0 in the 87th minute when senior Mario Franca made a run down the left sideline and sent a low cross to Caporaletti who centered the ball a few yards out of the penalty area and fired a shot past the Eagles keeper to make the final score 2-0.
“It's easy to be demoralized with the losses,” said Ainsley Deer after the match. “But even though you're down, you have to keep your moral up and keep fighting. You have to be strong.”
Fellow senior Richard Martinez (Hialeah, Fla.) shared Ainsley's feelings. “Never to give up,” said Martinez when asked what he has learned from this season. “Even though we've only won three games, we're in the conference tournament and that's the ticket for the NCAA Tournament.”
The Golden Panthers have one final regular season match, a road contest against Conference-USA foe Memphis this Saturday, before they travel to Birmingham, Ala. for the C-USA Championship Tournament.
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